Goldfish Bowl
by KuroTenshi1
Summary: Kaldur's been captured for reasons unknown and kept for months before the Team and others find him. With the League on the tail of those that have done this, the Team have to find a way to put their leader back together again. If, they can.
1. Chapter 1

AN: Yeeah, I know. Yet another YJanonmeme thingy where the prompter requested Kaldur go insane in some fashion. I kinda..sorta did it. It's one of my earlier Kaldur fics. Anyway- it's also unfinished *Hoping to finish it and others here too.* Hoping my later fics on him will be better. *scratches head* Ok, so I';m slightly crazy about him and his various shippable pairings.

**Triggers:** General Mind fucky-ness and lots of owies.

disclaimer: *Points to the title of the site.* Really, does it _have_ to be said? Really?

* * *

><p><strong><span>Day 1<span>**

Gasping, he woke with a start, body humming with tension when he became aware of pain that coursed through his entire body. It hurt to move, but he could do it. He looks around and found himself in a room.

Breathing slowly, Kaldur tries to remember how he had gotten in this room, but found his memory wasn't as good as he would like. He reaches back, even though he knows his water bearers are missing. The comfortable weight of them were gone.

His lips thin before he sat back on the bare floor of his prison. It was dry and made of concrete- so he thinks. There really wasn't a way out form what he could see, but he knew he would have to make due for now. He stares at the walls, as if they could tell him something, trying to discern what had happened to him and his teammates.

He closes his eyes as the memory became less hazy and more sharp.

_The mission had gone well enough for the time being, but towards the end, that's where disaster laid. They had been attacked, suddenly, by an enemy they knew nothing about. They were failing, his teammates were getting injured even as he made the call for retreat._

_There was only one way, but they didn't all have time to make it. Kaldur took it upon himself to make the time when he turned to face the soldiers that were attacking._

_"Go!" He orders._

_"But, what about you?" Superboy was reluctant to leave even as he carries an injured Robin in his arms._

_Kaldur whips the magically altered water at them before he answers him, "I said Go! I will be fine. Robin and the others need help." He turns back, gripping the handles of the bearers as they became blades. "I'll catch up with you later. "_

_Superboy hesitates before his back was pelted with bullets, making him hold the fragile body closer against him as he turned to run away. Leaving Kaldur to this._

He opens his eyes, realizing he remembers nothing else from that. Then a sound of something moving and he looks up. A hole, a small one, had opened up in the wall. Kaldur's light eyes flickered from that to the other walls, suddenly wary of what could be there.

A plastic cup of water and a bowl were pushed into the room with the tiny door shutting behind them. Kaldur looks wary at the food but decides to take the water. Maybe he could do something with it?

For the time being, he takes the water, his parched throat relieved at the feel of something wet and cool. Before he knew it, he had drunken more than half. That was fine, he only needed this much to make it work. So he sits back and waits.


	2. Chapter 2

**Day 4**

* * *

><p>Kaldur has learned something very important. You should not use water to fashion a sharp blade and launch it at whoever it is behind the door. As a result of that, he's on his third day without water. By all rights, he should be dead, but somehow he's survived. Even if he's close to the delirium he felt in Bialya at the moment.<p>

He sustains himself on thinking about his team, but it's becoming harder to concentrate on it. His stomach felt like it was gnawing on itself as it growls and twists inside. He doesn't want to think about it, but the thought of dying there was a terrible prospect that was made only more real as the time passes slowly- not that he could tell.

Vaguely, he hears the door open only it was louder and two people came in. People dressed oddly in suits he's only associated with bee keepers.

_He was as curious as Superboy at times when he stumbles across something he's never seen before. The golden tint of the jar was a puzzle to him. He glances at his companions, noting that even the aforementioned Superboy scoop out a spoonful of the golden thick liquid before copying Robin in putting it in his tea._

_"What is that?" Kaldur felt a little ashamed for not knowing what it was that everyone else knew. He wonders how often M'gann and Superboy felt like this._

_"It's Honey." Robin chirps-he always seems ready to break out into a laugh."It's pretty sweet."_

_Experimentally, Kaldur ponders this before trying it himself. He found he quite liked this 'honey'. Sweet, coated his entire mouth but with an interesting taste to it._

_He later looks up where honey came from and how humans harvested it. The beekeepers strange attire threw him off the most. He thought they looked like white monsters invading a place that weren't their own. He then wonders what the bees are thinking while the people steal their honey and found himself appalled at the thought._

_He stops using honey._

They took him somewhere, but he barely remembers the way, and suddenly he was bathed in water. Water that flowed over him, making him sigh in relief and contentment. Kaldur could careless for where he was and savors this.

At least until he realizes he's strapped down to the bottom and the people dressed in white-no there was someone dressed in black- surrounded him. None spoke and the one in black, which seems shiny for some reason, approaches him. He hears something rattling and turns his head seeing something shiny and metal being rolled in.

Without a word, they moved around him like dancers. Each knowing how to complete the others move. Suddenly, he worries what this means to him. He closes his eyes again, preparing for death with the only solace that his team was alive somewhere.

That they were safe.

When he wakes up, he's back in that room again and pain wrecked his body once more. He found he couldn't move as well as he should and hisses each time the stitches were stretched. He's thirsty again. After being submerged in water for whatever period of time, he wants more.

"What..." He mutters-it wasn't the first time he's spoken to the bare walls " do you want?"

Like before, no one answers him. He looks down at himself and wonders if the others would be coming. He decides he needs to stay strong for that. For the time they would come in and greet him with smiles.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 7<strong>

It's painful. His teeth grits from the pain of having his own electricity turned against him. That was another thing they've remedied- they talk now. But never to him. They never speak to him no matter what he said and they gave little to nothing away except about small things. Things like food or water and they toy with him. They tell him about his team. He demands to know what they've done.

But the one in black seems to smile, even though Kaldur cannot see his face. Kaldur can tell he's smiling because of his posture.

Then, they leave him alone in the cell with only his memories and thoughts to keep him there.

He had tried before to shock them, he should've known better.

He twitches and bites his lip bloody trying not to cry out his pain. He squeezes his eyes shut, willing to think of other things. Anything but the now constant pain that ran through him. Even as his muscles jerked and spasms and tears finally loosen from the corners of his eyes, he thinks of other things.

He thinks of Red Arrow and wonders what Roy was doing. He starts to imagine it.

_Red Arrow running along the rooftops, chasing down a criminal. He's strong and with one leap he jumps down in front of his prey and with one smooth motion he lets the arrow fly and explode in smoke before moving in. Then he-_

A scream forces it's way out of Kaldur's mouth because the pain was becoming unbearable.

It felt like eons before it stops. It only stops when he's unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

**Day 10**

He absently chews on his lower lip again, staring at the walls as he imagines other things that are there. Kaldur is unclear, still, as to what is really going on and had given up asking. By now, the sparks of his tattoos raise up every now and then and he would wince, but otherwise found a happy medium in which he could tolerate.

The problem, for him at least, is actually the boredom. He's found that he look forward to the scrapping of the bowl and water against the floor because it's the only time things change.

He tries to picture it. To picture what everyone would be doing right now.

_Superboy's next to him, he's watching No Signal. M'gann's in the kitchen trying yet again to cook. Artemis is on the couch counting and cleaning her arrows, restringing her bow. Robin...Robin and Wallly are aruging over something. He still doesn't understand their arguments but it never bothered with the team dynamics._

_This feels safe. Feels like home._

_He looks at his lap and it's the book he's been reading. Only the book is blank. He frowns, because it wasn't like this before. There were words there and-_

The doors open again and the people in white are standing there. He tenses, knowing what would come next.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 13<strong>

Kaldur gets it now. It was so simple, he felt stupid for not thinking of it before. What they wanted, he thought standing in the middle of the room as the tattoos glowed and arcs of light danced along his body, was to drive him _mad_.

_No, they wanted something else,_ he reminds himself and walks with a limp. They had taken something out of him- he doesn't know what only that his right leg had been cut up and sewn together. He frowns, his mind wandering off again as he looks at his right foot. The webbing had been cut.

He wonders how he could swim like that.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 16<strong>

His neck hurts. It hurts so much he can barely stand it. He wants to rip away at the bindings around his throat and tear it open. But it hurts too much to do that. It hurts to flare out his gills. They want him to drown, he thinks. Why else would they do this?

He can't live without water. He can't function without being within it's depths for a time. He-

The door slides open and he turns, his hands tremble a little with the urge to do something.

The only thing that stops him is the little bit of water they give him to survive on.

He treasures every single drop.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 18<strong>

They cut the webbing between his other foot and hands. It feels unnatural to him.

He hates this.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 21<strong>

He has a fever.

Kaldur thinks he's back at Mt. Justice because there's someone there that's humming next to him and cooling his forehead. He thinks this is nice and wants to curl into the one that's caring for him. It must be M'gann.

She's probably seen this on tv or something. He doesn't mind.

He wishes he could talk to her.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 24<strong>

He wishes Wally and Robin would speak to him. He hates that every time he's there they only talk to each other and wishes they would turn around. He gets so annoyed with him that when he goes to speak, nothing comes out and he closes his mouth.

He'd forgotten that they've damaged his voice box when they went to resew the gills shut because they had gotten infected before.

Kaldur decides it's better to just let them talk.

* * *

><p><strong><span>Day 27<span>**

He wishes they would talk to him again. No one speaks, and the silence is deafening. He doesn't know what he's done to deserve this. Hadn't he been a good leader? Hadn't he done everything for the team? Sacrificed everything and left his home for them?

He's numb to the pain, only when it spikes too high is when he can't tolerate it. He's thirsty again, but they had already given him his water for the day.

He wonders what the sky looks like now.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 30<strong>

Kaldur wonders if everyone's forgotten about him now. The door doesn't slide open, it usually does now. He wonders if he's no longer useful any more. His sides hurt from where they cut into him and his leg doesn't feel any better. He looks at his hands and misses the webbing that had been there.

Maybe it's better if he just went to sleep and never wake up?


	4. Chapter 4

**Day 33**

The door has opened, but Kaldur's not paying any attention to it. In fact, he stopped paying attention three days ago and stares at the walls of his room like there was something there. He only breaks his concentration when he smells water nearby.

He nurses his water than, breaking with his world before he goes right back to staring at his walls. But they weren't walls to him. Not any more. They were places he could be-was. Places where he really was. He wasn't in this room he was somewhere else.

Somewhere where he talks to others and laughs and jokes the way he wants to. Somewhere where Tula comes back to him and he and Garth are still best friends. Where everyone on the team is happy and their missions never fail.

Where...where he meets his father who's proud of him and what he's become.

So it's no wonder that he doesn't notice the door- the big door not the little one- opens and someone's calling his name.

He's not paying attention to them- Roy was saying something to him and he laughs(_Oh gods it still hurts._) rasping softly with a crooked smile. He likes that Roy's finally joined them.

He likes this happy world.

So it's no wonder that he lost it when they woke him from it.

* * *

><p><strong>At Mount Justice<strong>

The atmosphere was heavy and thick with unsaid words and tension. Ever since Aqualad had vanished after the mission, the others had tried to find him. Even Robin, who healed up nicely from his own wounds, did the best his hacker skills could do to help with the investigation.

Aquaman had not rested very much going between sea and land to find out what happened to his ward. How could he ever explain this to Kaldur's mother? When he had taken him on as his sidekick he had promised to do whatever he could to keep him mostly safe.

And now...

The Team shifted nervously, catching the older man's eyes. He wanted to thank them. More than that. They had kept going despite their mentors protests, despite their own in-fighting, and had found, retrieved their field leader.

It was just...

They turn as one, noting the arrival of Martian Manhunter and Batman.

"How..is he?" Robin spoke up first, beating Aquaman to it.

"With time," J'onn said, "he should recover well."

"So, he'll be able to come back to the team?" Kid Flash's hopeful look was shared by M'gann who was looking at her uncle for a moment before gasping softly.

"Megan?" Artemis glances over at the green girl who looked to burst out in tears. "What is it?"

"We won't know until he gets better." Batman interrupts, his lips thinned but he doesn't want to tell them the details. However he knew to give enough so they wouldn't go off on their own again. "He's been disfigured and if it hadn't been for your timely efforts, he may have died of dehydration by the time we would have arrived."

"Can we see him?" The way Superboy phrased it wasn't exactly a question as it was a demand.

Batman knows he would be wasting is breathe if he said 'no' so he nods once and the children left the room leaving only the adults standing there.

"What do you really believe?" Aquaman asks them once he was sure they were gone.

"The truth is I highly doubt he'll ever be in any condition to be on the team let alone lead it." Batman answers, "His injuries are...substantial. It looks as if they took pieces and samples of his tissue for some reason that has yet to be discern."

J'onn glances down the way the children had left before saying, "His mental health is fragile as it is and would take the most time to regain full stability."

Aquaman's shoulders slump as he sighs softly, "So I take him home to Atlantis to recover."

"You might wish to reconsider that." Batman walks pass him, "He believes he can no longer breathe underwater. It might be best if he remains on land."

Aquaman didn't know exactly how to respond to that.


	5. Chapter 5

Superboy-Conner- isn't quite sure what to say or do to be honest. When they had found Kaldur in that dark room with that strange raspy sound coming from him, he had thought they had chosen the wrong room if it hadn't been for the sparking of his tattoos.

At first, Kid Flash had gone to get his attention when calling his name didn't help but was promptly shocked.

So it had been up to him to follow Robin's directions to knock Kaldur out and pick the teen up so they could get out of there. He had been lighter than Superboy remembers and that was worrisome, according to his G-gnome implanted memories.

Which brings him to standing at their former leader's bedside with a book in hand. It had taken them a few days to convince him that they were real and that he really was at Mt. Justice, but at times it still seems as if he doesn't believe them. So they've taken turns watching over Kaldur when they had the spare time, talking to him. Sometimes he was awake sometimes he was sleeping.

Since Conner and M'gann were the only ones that were there almost twenty-four/seven, they were often the ones that kept him company.

Which was now Conner's turn to sit with him.

He moves the chair closer to Kaldur's bed, noting the changes in him. He was healing up nicely, the stitches had been removed from one set of his gills but his neck was still wrapped up and cleaned every so often throughout the day to prevent another infection. Conner recalls that they had been uncertain if Kaldur would ever be able to speak again.

Secretly, the black haired teen hopes he would. He found the idea of never hearing Kaldur speak again troubling, even as the memory of the raspy voice came back to him. He shivers before banishing the thought to the back of his mind and opening the book.

It had been Wally's idea.

"When I used to get sick, " He had said, "My Aunt Iris would read to me. 'Course I fell asleep before we would get to the end, but it's a..comforting thing."

So, now they each read a story from a book that Artemis had bought to help things along. When questioned, she just turned really red-Conner has no idea why- and muttered something about having finished it a while back.

Conner glances at Kaldur, who was staring past him to the wall behind him. He only looks down at the book and began to read the original version of "The Little Mermaid."

* * *

><p>M'gann was the one that usually changes his bandages with some help from Conner now and then. Most of the time, though, she tries to keep herself from peeking in Kaldur's mind. She wanted to, because she wanted to know if he was healing there as well as his body was healing.<p>

She knows better, but she can't help but brush his mind once before jerking back.

_Unsettling_.

That was the right word for this. She looks away feeling a mixture of shame and sadness. Shame because she should've ignored him and gone back to get him out of there while the others got on the bioship. Not to mention how his mind had twisted and turned to keep something safe. Something she wasn't quite sure of but saw as a shell.

M'gann wonders idly if she pried it open would Kaldur be in there?

She decides to talk to Uncle J'onn about this.

* * *

><p>Robin usually visits when most of the others are busy. He talks nonsensically about words and their meanings and what it would be like if they took the prefixes off of certain words. Sometimes he cracks jokes, hoping for any reaction at all from Kaldur.<p>

What he usually gets- what most got actually- is a vacant stare on the wall behind him.

Those times, he tries to get Kaldur to look at him and talks earnestly about not being able to decide how things should be or go.

He even admits, again, that Kaldur had been the better leader. That he didn't know how much of a responsibility leading the team was. That-

Eventually he stops because he doesn't want to be caught showing this emotion _too_ much.

He tells Kaldur he'll see him later.

Inwardly, he hopes what M'gann found would help.

* * *

><p>Artemis wasn't one to linger much. Especially when she's uncomfortable. But even she dips in to see him now and then when she thinks the others are busy.<p>

She was actually the one that brought in the goldfish and took great care of it while chatting idly about how annoying Wally's been and how M'gann's cooking had gotten better.

That it wasn't the same without him there playing referee when things got out of hand and no one wants to apologize.

* * *

><p>Wally doesn't stay for more than five minutes when he visits. But that's not because he can't stand the infirmary or even because he had too much energy. It's really because it's<em> too<em> quiet.

When it's his turn to read, he mostly brings science fiction or even comic books to show Kaldur the pictures and talk about his favorites and which one he thought Kaldur would like.

It is when the chatter lapses into silence is when he cannot stand it. When Kaldur's bright eyes dully stares back almost unblinkingly at him does he feel the tendrils of fear wrap around him. Hopelessness often bloomed in these silent moments.

And that's when Wally runs.

* * *

><p>"You have to let me see my son!" the woman was glaring at her king with a mixture of outrage,fear, and grief. "Where is Kaldur'ahm? Where's <em>my<em> son?"

Orin had not looked forward to this meeting. In fact, the king had tried to avoid going back to his kingdom for as long as he could. It had been inevitable, of course, and he flinches every time those eyes- the same color as Kaldur'ahm's- land on him while his queen ran interference.

"You know why you cannot see him." Mera's voice was grave as she also wanted to see how well he was holding up. "You wouldn't last even five minutes on dry land."

"Five minutes is all that I _need_." the woman retorts. "He's my _son_. I...Please, I must see him! I know he needs me there."

Orin breathes out slowly before saying, "I am sorry, but even if you were there...Kaldur'ahm would not acknowledge your presence." He pauses for a moment, "He did not even acknowledge mine."

A gasp came from the other woman, "What have they done to him?"

Orin wished he could pass this to another. He always hated to deliver such news. Especially to someone who entrusted her only child in his care.

He closes his eyes before opening them to explain.

* * *

><p>"Master Bruce." Alfred walk in with the tray of tea and cookies before idly glancing up at the wide screen that held incomprehensible data flickering. "Might I inquire what that is?"<p>

"An answer to the problem." Batman pulls the cowl over his head once more. "Make sure Dick is busy. I don't want the team to find out about this."

"Of course, Master Bruce." The butler nods sagely, "I believe that would be Justice League matter."

Batman didn't know what he would do without him. Either way, the Dark Knight left the cave to tell the others about his plan.

After all, someone hurt one of _his_ kids...er-_operatives_.

And they would pay dearly for that.

* * *

><p>Roy visited as much as he could. Only, he never says anything and just sits with Kaldur for a few hours at best. There was always something hard about the way he looks at Kaldur and the condition he was in. Granted it was far better than it had been, but still that didn't make the unnerving stare any easier to bear with. Or the scars around his throat that hadn't been there before.<p>

When Roy finally did get up to leave- on those days he visited-, one would have to pity the poor criminal he catches when he returns to Star City.

And fortunately for Roy, Green Arrow has a big mouth.

The last time he visited Kaldur, Roy vows he would take down those that did this to him.


	6. Chapter 6

They wouldn't find out about it until much later. Then again, the teens were quite busy at the moment preparing themselves for something that M'gann could only describe as a 'joint commune'.

At least those are the words that were the closest to describe.

"So..we're going into his mind?" Wally asks before glancing at her curiously."Isn't there like..some protocol for this? I mean we are kinda about to invade a mind here."

"Uncle J'onn believes this may be a way to wake him up from this." She breathes out slowly, "He'll be monitoring us while I take us there."

"Are you sure?" Wally glances nervously at the bed, "I mean, I don't want to get chewed out for this."

Artemis glares at him, "If you don't want to do this then say so, Kid Coward." She settles in her seat, tense but her eyes turn back to the bed where they formed a semi-circle around it. "It won't bother me at all."

"Hey, I'm just saying that _maybe_ he won't appreciate us stomping around in his skull." Wally sighs softly, "I'm in, but what will we see there?"

"Who knows." Conner mutters, "But it's better than doing nothing."

"Alright then." M'gann said and raises her arms, "Everyone, just remember that this is only his mind. Nothing can hurt you there." She reaches out and found her Uncle's link to her was strong and steady.

From there, M'gann joins their minds together before finally creating a bridge to Kaldur's. She's half afraid of what she would find there.

* * *

><p>Wally thought he was drowning, at least until someone-Artemis or Robin?- kicks him and he gasps. Finding out now that he can breathe.<p>

"This is _weird_." He states looking around. It was a seascape- surprise surprise- only he's never seen a butterfly living underwater. For a moment, he's distracted by it and by a literal 'cat-fish' swimming by.

"So this is Kaldur's mind huh?" Wally glances at the others, "Remind me _never_ to do this again."

"Where to?" Robin finds it strange as well but then again he's seen worse. "The shell you were talking about. Do you think it can be open?"

"I hope so." M'gann answers before 'swimming' forwards, "I suspect that when he was held captive he might have made this to help. It was only confirmed when we actually found him and..well.."

"Yeah." Artemis nods following her, "So that's why you've been reading those books."

M'gann nods, "Yes, I believed that even if you both live in different places that the mental plane would be very similar. Uncle J'onn recommended them to me for this."

"Makes sense." Robin agrees, "We're not too far off from each other in that aspect."

"Is that it ahead?" Conner frowns slightly wondering why an eel was following him. Not to mention, if memory served right, eels do _not_ have wings.

Before them was a giant spiral seashell that one most often associated with hermit crabs. It was a strange one that changed colors from yellow to black at random. At the moment it was blue with light blue markings that also changed colors at random- it just turned red.

"This..is _too_ easy." Wally mutters heading towards it once M'gann had confirmed it was what they were looking form.

"Shut up, Kid mouth!" Artemis snaps, "Do you want to jinx us?"

"Too late!" Robin's hand automatically went for his belt as tiger sharks and a great white circles lazily above them before one began to dive straight towards them. "Scatter!"

"I _knew_ this was too good to be true!" Wally 'swam' as fast as he could away from the very large and very sharp teeth.


	7. Chapter 7

The most unpleasant surprise was when they found that they cannot use their powers within this world. Even M'gann's were somewhat restricted.

But for those like Robin and Artemis, it wasn't too off from what they normally did.

"We have to get to that shell." Robin said before turning sharply behind a boulder which the shark hit suddenly. "Miss M, didn't you say that nothing can hurt us here?"

"Well, yes." She moves nimbly through the water and into a seaweed forest. One that just randomly grew with strange flowers attached to them. "Physically, it won't hurt us. But that doesn't mean it won't mentally."

"Great!" Wally then lets out a girlish scream as a shark barrels down on him. That was before Artemis grabs his ankle and jerks him down between her and Conner. "Just what we need."

"Alright, some of you go on to the shell, the rest of us will get there soon enough." Robin 'swims' over to them.

Artemis looks over at them, "You and Wally should go." She looks back up as the sharks circle around the sea weed above. "You two knew him longer than the rest of us."

Robin wants to dispute this but he nods, "Alright, think you and Miss M can hold them off?"

"Psh, of course. We're not like Kid Dumb here."

"Hey!"

"I'll go." Conner frowns, "You might need help."

"Alright. Lets do this."

* * *

><p>Someone was in the base that didn't belong there. Red Arrow knew he was right in not following the League when they ran off on some hunch. Still, crawling through the air ducts was not a good thing to do. He constantly had to stop himself from sneezing about six times and wonders if anyone ever gets to clean up in there.<p>

He looks down and spots Red Tornado, one of the two that were left behind to keep watch.

He doesn't say anything even as Red Tornado looks up directly at him.

"I find your logic to be up there, invalid. What is the purpose?"

"Someone's in the base." Red Arrow grumbles, "Trying to catch them off guard."

"I see. I will look into this."

One of the things Red Arrow likes about the mechanical robot was that it doesn't ask more questions then that.

He continues on. After all, he has to make sure everyone is safe.


End file.
